Angel
by Queenie and Kate
Summary: Basically, a series of nonchronological short stories about Angel and various other Rent characters before the show. And, yes, I am being purposely vague.


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Angel: 

Short Skirts 

"I hate him!" I bury my head into Mimi's shoulder and sob. "He's an asshole and I hate him, hate him, hate him! I-" I hiccup suddenly, stopping me from talking, and just cry. I'm sitting on the couch in Mimi's apartment, my wig totally discarded and her arms around me tightly. 

"Shhh… Angel baby, don't cry. Men are scum and this ass isn't worth your tears. Come on Ang…" Despite the fact that I'm still sobbing, I manage a small smile, Mimi's the best friend a boy could ask for. She doesn't even know who he is, or what he did; but she's sticking up for me and bitching about men. She's such a sweetheart. "Come on, Angel chica, if you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't make it all better. And I know you like to bitch, so come on, spill." 

I let go of her and dab at my eyes with the tissue she hands me, as I take a few deep breaths to try to compose myself. Stereotypical drag queen- not letting anything mess up my make-up. It's sad, I'm in this horrible state of mind but I still don't want to get mascara all over my face. Mimi's staring at me with those big Latina eyes and I know she's waiting for me to tell her what happened. "He cheated on me!" I burst into tears again and Mimi tightens up her face, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. She opens her mouth to say something, but I continue on anyway. "I can't believe he did that! I mean, I thought this one was special and different! And then he goes and pulls this shit! I just… I can't believe it, I really thought we had something between us! I shoulda figured it out, I guess but… he's so gorgeous and he could be so sweet to me…" I take a deep, shuddering breath and wipe gently at my eyes as Mimi watches me, concerned. "He cheated on me with some chick. I just can't believe Benny would do that to me!" 

Mimi's mouth drops open and I watch as she gapes and appears to fumble for words. Finally she seems to find the words and mentally returns to me. "Be-benny? B-b-b-benjamin Coffin the Third?" Mimi manages to stutter out. I- realizing I haven't told her who I was seeing, since we haven't seen each other for the past two weeks- nod. She leans forward and wraps her arms around me, hugging me tighter then I knew she could. "Angel… I'm so sorry…" 

"Mimi girl, _none_ of this is your fault. Don't apologize." I find myself gasping for air; her arms are squeezing the life out of me. I gently try to shrug her off. "Honey child, Angel needs to breathe. Let go please, hon." She abruptly lets go and I try to discreetly rub at my ribs. I didn't know someone with such skinny little-girl arms could be so strong. 

"Angel, it _is_ my fault, it's all my fault!" Mimi exclaims, as it seems to sink into her what I just said. "Angel… I'm the 'chick' he's sleepi-" She cuts off as she sees the expression on my face. "I didn't know! I would never—if I knew—he didn't tell me he was seeing _anyone_! He came to the Cat Scratch one night and… I wouldn't have done anything if I knew he was with you, you're my best friend and I would never want to…" 

I watch her brown eyes seem to catch on fire as she realizes something. "Wait, you guys were together until now, right?" I nod and her entire expression changes. "Fuck, that means the shit was cheating on me too, he never told me he was seeing anyone else." She lets out a long rant in Spanish. I can't understand most of it, but I can pick up enough from her tone to get the gist of it. I'm pretty sure that this isn't for me though, she's just getting her emotions out there for herself. Finally Mimi calms down at bit and her gaze meets mine. "I am so so sorry, Angel, I never meant to…" 

I smile a little bit and look back at her. "It's okay, Mi, I don't blame you for this at all, it's all that shit's fault for not telling you that he was seeing me too." 

"He really is a shit… I'm really sorry though, I should have thought and checked…" Mimi trails off and I just sit, watching her for a few minutes while she seems to think. "You know what? I think you should stay over tonight and we can stay up watching chick flicks. Then tomorrow we can go shopping, buy ice cream, cookies and anything else chocolate we can find and sit around bashing men." 

I look at the earnest expression on her face and giggle. She's too adorable. "Kay, that sounds great, Mimers, I can't wa-" I break off as I suddenly remember something. "I can't tomorrow Mimi, after Babs found out about Benny, she set me up with one of her friends and I'm supposed to go for lunch tomorrow. I'm sorry…" 

Her face drops and I immediately feel bad, she looks like she's going to cry. She's so beautiful, I don't want to make her cry. Wait, did I just think of Mimi as beautiful? She's my best friend, that's not normal… "It's okay, Ang, we can still do the chick flick part and I'll just get fat by myself." She's lying. I can tell from the way her lower lip is shaking. 

"Mimi…" I want to fix this… Oooh! Idea! "I don't know if I want to go though. I mean, the other day all I did was listen to Mitzi talk about how he can be such a jerk sometimes. Besides, there's someone else I would much rather spend my time with." 

"Well… I guess I could come in the middle of your date and say I need you for something, then you can go meet this person." She still looks a little disappointed that I 'don't want to spend time with her'. Hehe. 

"No, I don't think I want to go at all. I just want to spend time with this person. I've known her for a long time and I love to spend time with her but I'm only known noticing how special and beautiful she is. I think I may love her… do you wanna see a picture?" Mimi slowly nods and I gently take her by her shoulders. "Close your eyes, Mimers." 

She obediently does as I tell her and I lead her by her hand into the bathroom and hold her in front of the mirror. I can't believe I never realized this before. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." I stand behind her, holding back a grin and waiting impatiently for her reaction. 

Mimi's eyes flutter open and she just stares at the mirror for a second before reaching forward and tentatively touching the mirror. "Shit…" She turns around and stares at me with those pretty eyes. "The girl's me, isn't she?" 

I smile softly down at her. "Yes, yes she is, Mimers." Before I can think, I'm leaning down and pressing my lips against hers. Crippity-crappity, what did I do that for? I don't want to ruin our friendship! But no, she's kissing me back; it's okay, I didn't ruin anything. Once we both finally pull away, I put my hands on her hips and try to stop myself from crying; I'm so worried that she'll be uncomfortable. 

"Wow?" Mimi offers, looking slightly uncomfortable as I realize we're both wearing short skirts. Brilliant Angel, couldn't you have waited until you were out of drag to suck on your best friend's face? "So… umm… what do we do now then? I mean, are we gonna… _do…_ stuff, or was that just a… I don't know… a fluke? Because I don't want to…" 

"Lose me?" She nods the tinniest bit, chewing on her lip. "I don't want to lose you either, Mimi, you're my best friend, sweetie. Look, why don't we go on a date tomorrow- just to test this out? We can go out to lunch, I'll come pick you up, I'll pay and everything- it'll be a real date. Sound good?" 

"Sounds great." Mimi continues staring intently into my eyes and I begin to get worried, I can tell she's thinking. What if she's thinking that this is a stupid idea? I couldn't- suddenly her face breaks into a bright smile and she lets out a giggle. "Can we still have our chick-flick chocolate-fest sleepover tonight?" 

*****

I stand outside of Mimi's apartment, fidgeting uncomfortably in my clothes. I think I've been wearing drag too often lately, I'm not usually uncomfortable in guys' clothes. But I'm not wearing drag on this date. Mimi didn't ask me not to, but I didn't think I should- I wouldn't want to make her feel weird. I hope she's ready… I went home this morning to get changed, but it could take her longer, since I'm not wearing any make-up or anything. This is going to be kind of weird… suck it up and knock on the door, Angel. I knock and within second she pulls the door open. She's wearing a blue dress and has her hair up. She looks gorgeous… and she actually looks innocent… wow… "Hey. Mimi… you look incredible… Oh! I brought you this- going with the whole "real date" thing." I smile proudly and hold out the flower I "borrowed" from a window box on the way over here. 

Mimi absently takes the flower and continues staring at me. Did I spill on my shirt or something? "You're not in drag!" Mimi suddenly blurts out, then blushes as she realizes that's the first thing she said to me. "I mean, you look hot but… you're not in drag!" She blushes again and covers her mouth. "I mean, ummmm… I like your outfit." 

I look down and grin. "Thanks Mimi!" It actually took me awhile to choose this. I wanted to look good for her. I look down still and absently straighten my shirt, proud of what I ended up choosing- even though I'm not in drag, I don't plan on wandering around in gross jeans and a nasty old T-shirt. I wearing a pair of black pants, a gray T-shirt with a white silk shirt over top and a nice black suede jacket over that. Like I said, I'm not going to look bad just because I'm not in drag. I look up at Mimi and smile, offering my arm to her. "Come along, my dear, we are going out for lunch." 

She smiles back and locks her door behind her then we walk down the street arm in arm. This is so weird, going on a date with my best friend. Then at the same time, it's not weird at all; it's like nothing's changed. She's clutching onto my arm and laughing hysterically at some story I told her, like always. I'm putting my arm around her waist to catch her when she falls because she's laughing too hard, like always. She's tugging on that piece of hair of mine that always sticks up and making fun of it, like always. But every once in awhile I have this really strong urge so I lean over and softly kiss her. She doesn't pull away. And that's not like always. 

Finally we reach the restaurant. It's an insane-looking, 2-story vegetarian place but I like it anyway. We go into the restaurant and are quickly seated by the railing on the second story. We look through the menu in silence, breaking it only to ask each other what we're getting. We order and I stare across the table at her, tentatively taking her hand in mine. Things are getting all weird again, I hate it. Maybe this isn't the best idea. I'm relieved when some bread comes and we have something else to focus on. I reach forward and try to pick up a piece of bread. Ahhhhh! It's stuck! "Mimers… make the bread work!" She just laughs and picks up a piece of bread for herself from the other side. "Mimi! It's stuck!" I pout at her. 

"Awww… I'm sorry Ang." Mimi pauses in the act of buttering her bread and giggles. She wipes the butter off the knife and reaches over, cutting through the piece of bread that's still attached. "Aww, is this all better? Did I make the bread work, baby?" 

I nod and happily pick up my head. "You did. You did a very good job of making the bread work. It's all nice and eat-able now." Things are finally getting back to normal, I'm so happy that the fact that this is a date hasn't screwed our relationship entirely. I actually find myself in a good enough mood to carry on a conversation with the waiter who brings us our drinks. I'm not sure _what_ exactly it's about, but it's insane enough for him to look sufficiently scared once he leaves. 

Mimi and I sit there sipping on our drinks for awhile. Not talking. Again. This is getting frustrating; normally we'd be talking each other's ears off right now. I'm really thinking that this "real date" phrasing wasn't a good idea, it just screwed everything up. I think about trying to start up a real conversation again but decide that would just be stupid and so not me. I instead reach into my glass and fish out an ice cube, then flick it across the table at her. 

"Hey!" Mimi exclaims as the ice hits her on the shoulder. "What was that for?" I just giggle and stick my tongue out at her as I flick another ice cube at her. "Oh, you are so mean!" She sticks her tongue back out at me and reaches into her glass for an ice cube. Aren't we so mature? I'm highly amused by that thought until I realize that Mimi just totally overshot with her ice cube and it's currently flying over the railing. 

I lean over the railing and watch it fall into this guy's soup. "Mimi! Look at what you did!" I resist the urge to start laughing as the soup splashes up all over the man's face. He looks up and happens to catch sight of me. Crap-a-roo. I reach across the table and grab Mimi's hand. "Come on, baby, we have to go before they kick us out." She grabs her jacket and I quickly pull her out of the restaurant, just as I catch site of a none too happy waiter going up the stairs. 

Once we finally reach Mimi's apartment, she pulls me in and sits me down on the couch. Okay, didn't expect that. "Angel…" Mimi sits down beside me, settling her legs over my lap and taking my hands in hers. "We need to talk." 

About the date. And that wasn't good tone… please don't let her not love me too… "Ummm… yeah?" I ask, relieved that my voice didn't squeak like some teenage kid… like I am. 

"Well… uh…" Mimi takes a deep breath and squeezes her eyes shut. She exhales loudly then opens her eyes, gazing intently into mine. "Okay, Angel, I love you and I'll always love you, more then anything. You're my best friend and I couldn't stand to ever lose you. But…" Damn that word. "We can't be a couple and you _know_ that because… well… our date-" 

"Was really uncomfortable?" I always finish her sentences… can't believe I never noticed that before. 

"Well… yeah… I love you, I really do, I just can't…" She trails off and I start to worry that she'll start crying again. No! I never wanted to make her cry… I never wanted to make anyone cry. 

I gently squeeze her hands and attempt a comforting smile. "It's okay, Mimers, I understand. And I love you, but we don't need to be together. It's not that kind of love. I think it's more then that." I lean over and lightly kiss her. "Can I still do that?" 

"Uh huh." Mimi smiles and pushes herself against me a little so I instinctively wrap my arms around her. My turn to comfort her. We sit like that for a long long time until she finally pulls her head away from my chest for a moment. "Angel… can I borrow that silver skirt of yours?" 

I look down at her then dissolve in laughter. Everything with us is going to be okay. 

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**Disclaimer:** Everyone in this chapter belongs to Jonathan Larson. (Except Mitzi and Babs who were mentioned and belong to me.)   
Just to restate this, this is _not_ in chronological order. If you were to put it in chronological order, this would probably be the 4th chapter and… yeah. (Yes, I realize the other chapters aren't up yet, just pretend you know what I'm talking about.) 

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